A 19-year-old man was pulled from the water unconscious by the coastguard before a second man was saved, a South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) spokeman said.

Both went into cardiac arrest but were resuscitated on the beach before being airlifted to hospital in a ‘life-threatening condition’, according to the SECAmb spokesman.

The coastguard rescue teams from Rye and Dungeness, helicopters from Lydd and Solent, Rye Harbour RNLI lifeboat, beach lifeguards and police searched for a third person, a 19-year-old man from London, last seen in the water.